Problem Sheet 1

Fields
√
1. Let S be the set of all real numbers of the form a + b 2 with a and b being rational
numbers. Does S form a field? Check whether S satisfies all the axioms for a field under
’usual’ operations of addition and multiplication.
2. Consider the set R2 , i.e., the set of all (x, y) such that x, y ∈ R.

(a) If addition is defined as (x, y) + (z, w) = (x + z, y + w), and multiplication as (x, y) 

(z, w) = (xz, yw). show that R2 is not a field? Which of the axioms are violated?
(b) Would the result change if x, y, z, w are taken as complex numbers (i.e., C2 instead
of R2 )?
(c) Can the multiplication be redefined to make R2 a field?

3. Do the set of all polynomials with real coefficients form a field? What if the coefficients
were restricted to be rational numbers? What if they were restricted to be integers?
4. The notation Z/pZ, for any integer p ≥ 2, denotes the set of reminders obtained by dividing
any integer by the integer p. Thus, Z/pZ = {0, 1, 2, · · · , p − 1}.
Check whether Z/pZ is a field for p = 2, p = 5 and p = 6, if the addition and multiplication
operations are defined as x ⊕ y = (x + y) mod p and x  y = (xy) mod y, respectively
for x, y ∈ Z/pZ.

Vector Spaces
1. Show that all the solutions of a linear constant coefficient homogenous differential equation

dn x dn−1 x dx
n
+ an−1 n−1
+ · · · + a1 + a0 x = 0
dt dt dt
forms a vector space.
2. Do the set of all complex numbers of the form z = x + iy, with x, y ∈ Z, form a vector
space?
3. Sometimes a subset of a vector space is also a vector space (a subspace). Consider the
vector space R2 with an arbitrary vector being v = (v1 , v2 ). Which of these subsets of R2
are vector spaces?
(a) v1 = 0.
(b) v1 = 0 or v2 = 0.
(c) v1 + v2 = 0.
(d) v1 − v2 = 1.

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 4. Consider the vector space of all polynomials (P). Which of the following subsets of P form
a vector space. Why?
(a) All polynomials x(t) of degree 3.
(b) 2x(0) = x(1).
(c) x(t) > 0 for 0 ≤ t ≤ 1.
(d) x(t) = x(1 − t) for all t.

Linear Dependence, Basis and Dimension

1. If vectors x, y, z and u in P are defined as x(t) = 1, y(t) = t, z(t) = t2 and u(t) =
1 + t + t2 , then show that x, y, z, u are linearly dependent, but any three of them are
linearly independent.
2. Show that all the bases of a subspace S of Rn have the same number of elements which is
equal to the dimension of the subspace.
3. (a) Under what conditions on the scalar ξ are the vectors (ξ, 1, 0), (1, ξ, 1) and (0, 1, ξ) in
R3 linearly dependent?
(b) Under what conditions on the scalar ξ are the vectors (0, 1, ξ), (ξ, 0, 1) and (ξ, 1, 1 + ξ)
in R3 linearly dependent?

4. Prove that if R is considered to be a rational vector space (i.e., a vector space over the
field of rational numbers), then the necessary and sufficient conditions that the vectors 1
and ζ in R be linearly independent is that the real number ζ is irrational.
In this case, what is the dimension of the rational vector space R?
     
 1 1 0 
5. (a) Let S1 = span  1  ,  2  ,  1  . Determine dimension of S1 .
0 1 1
 
     
 0 1 2 
(b) Let S2 = span  1  ,  4  ,  6  . Compute a basis for (S1 + S2 ) and S1 ∩ S2 .
0 1 2
 
Verify
dim(S1 + S2 ) = dim S1 + dim S2 − dim (S1 ∩ S2 )

6. Suppose that x and y are vectors and M is a subspace in a vector space V; let H be the
subspace spanned by M and x, and let K be the subspace spanned by M and y. Prove
that if y is in H but not in M, then x is in K.

Transformations and Matrices

d
1. Let P3 be the set of all polynomials (in x) of degree less than or equal to 3. Let dx be the
derivative map which acts on a polynomial in P3 and gives out a polynomial in P3 .
d
: P3 → P3
dx
(a) Prove that this map is a linear transformation.
(b) Find the matrix representation for it. (Be careful about properly defining what the
matrix is supposed to convey)

2
 (c) Find the basis for the image and kernel of this matrix.

2. Let A ∈ Rn×n be a matrix. Show that if λ is an eigenvalue of matrix A, then for any
polynomial p(x), p(λ) is an eigenvalue of p(A). Moreover, if v is the eigenvector associated
with the eigenvalue λ, then v is also an eigenvector of p(A) corresponding to the eigenvalue
p(λ).
3. Suppose that for each x in P, the function y is defined by
R +2
(a) y(x) = −1 x(t) dt
R2
(b) y(x) = 0 (x(t))2 dt
R1
(c) y(x) = 0 t2 x(t) dt
R1
(d) y(x) = 0 x(t2 ) dt

In which of the cases is y(x) a linear transformation?

4. Let M be the subspace consisting of all those vectors (ξ1 , ξ2 , · · · , ξn , ξn+1 , · · · , ξ2n ) in R2n
for which ξi = 0, i = 1, · · · , n, and N be the subspace of all those vectors for which
ξi = ξn+i , i = 1, · · · , n.
Is N the complement of M? (i.e., M ∩ N = {0v }, and M + N = M ⊕ N = R2n )
5. Construct three subspaces M, N1 and N2 of a vector space V such that M⊕N1 = M⊕N1 =
V but N1 6= N2
What is the geometric picture corresponding to this situation?
6. Prove that if V is a finite dimensional vector space then the set of all linear transformations
on V (i.e., all T : V → V) is also a finite dimensional vector space. Find its dimension.
7. Suppose M is an m-dimensional subspace of an n-dimensional vector space V. Prove that
the set of those linear transformations A on V for which Ax = 0 whenever x is in M, is a
subspace of all linear transformations on V. Find the dimension of that subspace.